Time off after having my wisdom teeth out: annual leave or sick leave?

Sick leave, i had all four of mine taken out whilst i was in the army back in 1993 and i got 7days sick leave back then. Tbh i was ok after a few days but hey take the 5days if your offered it.
 
First off ignore those who who know nothing and think wisdom tooth removal is trivial.

I had mine out in my twenties under local at my dentist. Wish I didn't. Still have bits of tooth left which now thirty years later are starting to play up. I won't frighten you too much but having you gums cut away back with a scalpel, feeling your teeth screwed into, feeling them break up instead of coming out, hearing comments like "Hmm - better leave those bits in - we're starting to pull out bits of bone the bone now" is a bit worrying. Found blood soaked swabs between the cheeks and gums 24 hours later as some feeling started to return. I was on quite strong painkillers for about 3 days. I couldn't talk properly for 24 hours. I could barely open my mouth at first and over two or three weeks normal movement returned - though interestingly I have never been able to get my mouth open as wide after than before.

IMPACTED wisdom tooth removal is a minor surgical procedure.

You might have some difficulty eating and drink for a while afterwards. There might also be stitches to come out if they have to cut into the gums.

On the other hand it depends on individual cases and yours might pop out with no real hassle.

I once worked with someone who had her four wisdom teeth out under a general and she was in a neck collar for weeks afterwards. Seriously.

Vision of a dentist with a knee on her chest, pliers in her mouth tugging, pulling, shaking and shouting "Come out you little bugger..." :)

I further suggest you don't take the **** with your employers - try and get a weekend in your recovery, don't go back in next day - no one should expect that after a general anaesthetic (sp?) but don't just take a week off if you don't need it.
 
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Why cant they put you under general anaesthetic instead of local? I've heard hundreds of horror stories about people being awake and all the sensations, something i'd rather not have to deal with if i was in the same situation to be honest!
 
EffBee said:
IMPACTED wisdom tooth removal is a minor surgical procedure.

I once worked with someone who had her four wisdom teeth out under a general and she was in a neck collar for weeks afterwards. Seriously.
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I had my four out under general anesthetic, it's far from trivial. I got mine removed during the summer a few years ago whilst I was still at college, so don't remember the recovery time.

Wasn't remotely a nice experience though.
 
I would take it as annual leave cos I get a fair amount and haven't had a sick day for over 5 years.
 
CDj-Rossi said:
Why cant they put you under general anaesthetic instead of local? I've heard hundreds of horror stories about people being awake and all the sensations, something i'd rather not have to deal with if i was in the same situation to be honest!
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I just under estimated the full horror what they were going to do. Actually the two top ones came out very easily - it was the impacted lower ones that were the problem.
 
If it is impacted then i would expect general, otherwise some local and a few yank should come out. Mine was pulled out by a girl, a skinny one at that, no more than 30 seconds of yanking and I was done. I went to Starbucks on the way home and picked up some dinner from Tesco. I still have the tooth actually, its on my desk at home ! lol (the other one i gave away to a friend)

Under General, I suppose it depends on how the surgery go in the end, you might not need 5 days, you might be fine in 2, in that case take 2.
 
I had my lower left wisdom tooth out a few years ago as it was possioned in such a way that it was growing forwards and in danger of cauing issues with the tooth in front of.

Local anesthetic and lots of pulling, (as there was nothing wrong with the tooth, it was just growing the wrong way), and it was out. Had it done on the Monday morning and went back into work on the Friday. Still felt rough then though but felt a lot better by the following Monday. People I worked with said I looked a lot better, (less swollen), on the Monday too.

Time off was sick leave.
 
I had 2 of my 3 impacted 3rd Molars out last year. General. Week off sick. Mash potato and Lucozade all round. :D

Had mine done on a Monday, drove up north on the Friday still looking like I'd been in a fight.
 
Had all 4 of mine taken out last year under general anaethetic. Got a doctors note which entitled me to a full week off work. Teeth were in agony though and I couldn't eat properly for a couple of weeks.

Tried going in a day early but wasn't allowed due to the doctor's note being for a full week - think it was to do with the insurance not covering me.
 
re: needing sufficient time to recover

well he might pick up an infection mrsa etc. is it at a Dental hospital to get it done?

re: taking sick leave for stuff. Depends where you work as well. A simple cold might not affect you but if you work in a hospital then you are presenting a possible danger of infection to others more vulnerable to being affected. So we are advised not to come in.
 
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Surfer said:
well he might pick up an infection mrsa etc. is it at a Dental hospital to get it done?

re: taking sick leave for stuff. Depends where you work as well. A simple cold might not affect you but if you work in a hospital then you are presenting a possible danger of infection to others more vulnerable to being affected. So we are advised not to come in.
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How is that at all relevant to me saying that it should be sick leave and agreeing that holidays are indeed optional?

Time off to recover after any form of surgery is sick leave period (with the exceptions of voluntary cosmetic surgery), if you work for an employer who states otherwise I'd suggest a change in employment.
 
neoboy said:
I ain't trying to play a hard man here but 5 days seems excessive to recover from a tooth being pulled out.
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its major surgery

guess it depends on what job op does though. if its sat at a desk all day then maybe 5 days is slightly excessive but we dont know all the circumstances.

the dentist knows more than we do
 
i had all 4 out a few months ago i had 2 weeks off on sick but i had to supply work with a docs note

edit // the doc gave me Solpadol (sp?) for a pain killer and i was unable to work due to the side affects (light headedness and drowsiness)
 
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Just to clarify a few things:

This will be a general anaesthetic at an NHS hospital but an in and out in a day jobbie. The teeth are barely erupting so I understand it will be a scalpel, stitches, power drill kind of task.

I am a desk jockey so time off would be to recover rather than not really being able to work (though I am on the phone pretty much constantly). I just don't want to be jammy as I haven't had single sick day off with this company since I joined almost two years ago.

Thanks for the advice guys. A couple of people here at work have had similar work done and they were allowed to take it off as sick leave, so that's what I'll do, though I won't take them off for the sake of taking them, the main reason being it just means there'll be more work waiting for me when I get back!
 
Unfortunately, there's always a "random factor" involved in wisdom teeth. 5 days is probably the worst case scenario. There's a good chance (despite what the x-rays say) that when the dentist actually gets in there they'll just pop straight out no problems. It works the other way, too; my sister had all hers out and, despite being told they were "easy", she came back hours later and it looked like the dentist had played footy with her head :(

Good luck!
 
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